Derailing the Training Train

Training is a funny thing. Over the years, I've done a lot of it. I've stood up in front of rooms and lectured. I've stood over shoulders and coached. I've huddled in my pajamas and slippers on early morning conference calls, blindly sharing my thoughts with a mute (but hopefully appreciative) audience. I've managed mock news media interviews and fake social media crisis scenarios. And I've driven executive workshops in far-flung locations.

And I think I've done OK. But therein lies the problem. I think I've done OK. But there's a leap of faith required here that can be frustrating. Connecting the dots between the act of delivery and the act of, well, listening, internalizing, and demonstrating a change in behaviour is much more difficult.

I've come to the conclusion that while mass sessions are fine to get a message out, the actual training is a longer term, more involved process. I'm working on several training decks now that tell a big story - then will be relying on smaller, more intimate sessions, timed to hit when needed.

For example, we're teaching a social media measurement framework, followed up by specific sessions when someone's diving into LinkedIn, for example.

Not sure if this model is perfect, but at least we're not assuming people can somehow internalize a vast amount of information and deliver when promoted. Instead, we're presenting information for discussion in an appropriate context.

The other piece that's helping is not looking at training in isolation, but understanding how it fits into a wider, more complex program. My employer, Text100, has established a needs-based training framework which will help overcome some of these perennial issues.

I've also run client programs around a single, clear, and measurable objective, which have been the most satisfying training experiences of my career. These long-term programs have critically been designed to create a clear change, not simply train for training's sake.

While I don't think we've cracked the code, I think we're certainly getting better at putting training in context, and thinking about the outcome, not just the output.

Let me know if you have thoughts on training and professional development that get closer to cracking the code...

This post first appeared on my LinkedIn Profile here.